With all eyes on the debut of Ultra Australia this past weekend, both shows in Melbourne and Sydney on the 23rd and 24th of February delivered a large-scale event to a country yearning for more grand EDM festivals since the departure of Stereosonic and Future Music Festival.

For the first Ultra Worldwide event of 2019, organisers pulled out all the stops, bringing their unparalleled production and world-class line-ups to Australia, giving fans the ultimate festival experience. Marshmello, ILLENIUM and Slushii commanded the Main stage with electrifying performances, while Martin Garrix worked the crowds into a frenzy as the sun set. The Chainsmokers closed out both days to a rapturous response.

Making its much-anticipated debut on Australian shores, Joris Voorn was the first international act to take to the RESISTANCE stage. Nicole Moudaber and Dubfire’s sensational b2b performance kept the crowds coming in thick and fast, while techno titan Adam Beyer left fans quite literally demanding more, as he closed out the inaugural RESISTANCE Australia on both nights.

In Melbourne, Sunset Bros and Young Bombs kicked things off on the mainstage, before hometown favourite Will Sparks kicked things up a notch as he took to the decks, entertaining the crowd with some of his best tunes, including ‘Senseless’, ‘Take Me’and ‘Gorilla‘feat. long-time collaborator Luciana and Tyron Hapi, who performed on the UMF Radio stage, later on in the day.

Picking up where Will (often referred to as “Sparksy” in Australia) left off, was Slushii, who instantly made his presence known. Injecting the crowd with a heavy dose of Dubstep from the get-go, GTA‘s ‘Booty Bounce’remix blasted through the speakers, blowing the crowd away with pounding 4/4 150 bpm kicks. Thereafter, Slushii’s set only escalated even higher, as he played crowd favourites such as Nitti Gritii‘s ‘Lights’remix and most importantly, Linkin Park‘s timeless anthem, ‘In The End’, much to the crowd’s delight.

Nicholas Miller, better known by his stage name; Illenium soon followed with his own, heavier brand of Dubstep, sparking an abundance of headbanging from the enthusiastic Melbourne crowd. Dirty growls and heavy basslines pounded through the speakers between 4-5pm, as tracks such as ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ with Kill The Noise and Moody Good‘s ‘Get Deaded’ remix made their way into the American’s setlist before fellow countryman Marshmello would take over.

Blending a healthy mix of commercial and heavy beats, ‘Mello began his set with some of his more popular records, including ‘Fly’, ‘Wolves’ and ‘Alone’. Perfectly aligning Marshmello’s energetic beats with a mesmerising lighting display, the technicians did a mesmerising job, much to the crowd’s amazement. Soon, everyone would be wearing their “bass-faces” as festival favourites ‘Bounce That Ass’by Reece Low and Skidope‘s ‘Snakes’ made their way into ‘Mello’s set.

Soon, it was Martin Garrix‘s turn to astonish the crowd. Garrix, who performs in Australia each year, was no stranger to the Melbourne crowd and his set reflected that. Festival anthems such as ‘Turn Up The Speakers’and ‘Like I Do’ immediately helped push the energy to another level, despite the contrast in tempo between previous acts. However, it was ‘Animals’ and ‘Virus‘that truly added the cherry on the cake, in what was a memorable performance.

Lastly, The Chainsmokers had the pleasure of closing out the first full Ultra event in Australia. Filled with plenty of their hit-singles, as well as an abundance of hard-hitting bass anthems accompanied by a live drummer (who emphatically lit his drumsticks on fire halfway through the set), the American duo put on a performance the Melbourne crowd won’t soon forget. Throwing together the Lion King theme with Jauz & DJ Snake‘s ‘Gassed Up’, they would soon follow up with even harder bangers, including their collaboration with NGHTMRE; ‘Save Yourself’ and Crankdat‘s ‘Need Somebody’, before the crowd found themselves singing along to ‘Closer’and ‘Something Just Like This’, as fireworks and pyrotechnics flooded the sky, drawing the festival to an emphatic close.